1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording copyrighted content onto optical disks, and, in particular, relates to improvements when different formats are used for industrial-use optical disks and consumer-use optical disks.
2. Background Art
DVDs, which have become representative optical disks nowadays, can be classified into two types, namely, consumer DVDs available to general consumers and industrial DVDs available only to specific industries. The latter DVD records, for example, content of a movie film which is currently showing at theaters, and is intended not for home use, but for public use. With the development of industrial DVDs, the media for distributing movie content for industrial use are expected to shift from films and tapes to DVDs.
Since content of a movie which is currently showing at theaters is recorded on a DVD for industrial use, such as in-flight screening, if such a DVD is stolen or lost, the copyright holder of the movie content will suffer tremendous damages. This is because if the industrial DVD is stolen or lost and acquired by a third party, the third party can show the movie content recorded on the DVD in an area where the release of the movie is scheduled, without permission of the copyright holder. When this happens, the copyright holder cannot earn an intended profit at the box office. Besides, the airline company has to pay the copyright holder compensation for the damages caused by the theft or loss. This could deteriorate the relationship between the copyright holder and the airline company. To avoid such a problem, when recording the movie content onto the industrial DVD, the copyright holder subjects the movie content to encryption which differs with that of the consumer DVD, to prevent the movie content recorded on the industrial DVD from being played back by DVD players other than industrial DVD players. Since consumer DVD players cannot play back the movie content recorded on the industrial DVD, even if the industrial DVD is stolen or lost, the movie content will not be shown without permission of the copyright holder.
However, the above consideration for copyright protection can lead to another problem on the airplane. Given that consumer DVDs are likely to be carried in the airplane together with industrial DVDs, if the industrial DVDs and the consumer DVDs are stored haphazardly, an industrial DVD may be mistaken for a consumer DVD, taken not to the in-flight screening room, but to the passenger cabin, and loaded to a consumer DVD player equipped in a passenger seat. Since the industrial DVD has been encrypted using a different cipher, it cannot be played back by the consumer DVD player. However, the passenger in the seat would not know the reason why the movie content cannot be played back, and may complain that the DVD player is faulty. It is undesirable for the airline company to give the impression that equipped devices are faulty. Also, flight attendants do not want to be disturbed by such a complaint.